LAS ROZAS (MADRID), March 7. (SportsFinding) –
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) held a symbolic act on Monday to pay tribute to Ukrainian women, taking advantage of the celebration of March 8, International Working Women’s Day.
In the Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas (Madrid) were the U-19 women’s team and the Absolute women’s futsal team, with their coach Claudia Pons, as well as Montse Tomé, Jorge Vilda’s assistant, Laura del Río, U-23 coach , Ana Álvarez, new director of Football, and Elvira del Río, federative vice president, who listened carefully to the story of the Spanish journalist and writer of Ukrainian origin Margarita Yakovenco.
“All my family, except my parents who are with me, are in Ukraine. It is a catastrophic situation and a human tragedy, and this has touched me closely and it is doubly hard. Part of my family left just the day of the invasion and I can talk to her, but we haven’t been able to talk to the one she stayed with for days,” lamented Yakovenco.
This criticized that “diplomatic movements” are not being “intense enough to stop something that is taking too long” and where there will be “enormous human losses” and a refugee crisis. “It’s a situation that happens in all wars and until it touches you you don’t realize what it is,” she remarked.
“All the acts in which this is being talked about are relevant because the more you make visible, the more you put people on your side, the more sanctions are approved and the more aid is collected. And when this is over, I trust it will be over and Ukraine will remain free, it will have to be rebuilt. The EU has an obligation to help the refugees and those who are going to stay there,” added the journalist.
For her part, Montse Tomé recalled the importance of football in this type of initiative because it is “the greatest loudspeaker and at a social level it is within everyone’s reach”. “Listening to a person who brings what is happening helps to empathize with the people there. We played in Kiev in November and seeing that they are bombing it is sad. The message is important to make it visible and to get help that will always be few” , he indicated.
“I can’t imagine having to go home and pack my backpack to leave, I did it to fulfill a dream of playing in different countries and once you’re in one, the way they treat you and help you adapt is important. That is why it is important that we can help them in any detail, even just with a smile,” said Laura del Río.
Finally, Claudia Pons, the national women’s futsal coach and whose team had to play the European Championship against Ukraine, their rival in the semifinals, Russia and Portugal, stated that they are not “very clear about how the situation is going to be resolved”.
“This affects us fully. We were in Kiev in January and for nothing in the world did we expect this situation, although we saw some situations that made us think that the conflict was advancing. We do not know what will happen, UEFA has not spoken, but we know that Ukraine will not be able to compete. We are in contact with them to find out how they are, but today there are few answers,” he confessed.